Last Night On Earth
by Claire Noodles
Summary: "So, last night on Earth, eh? Wanna come with me?" (Written after a picture from Writer's Block.)


"So, last night on Earth. What do you say? Wanna come with me? "

Apple let out a chuckle of incredulity, glancing towards the guy in the shadows. He was taller than she had thought at first, with light brown messy hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a basic plaid shirt and a pair of jeans, and she briefly wondered how he could not be hot with those long sleeves. A smile playing on his lips, he drew closer to her.

"Sorry, my mom told me not to hang out with strange boys.

- Aw, come on. No one wants to spend this night alone, right?

- Who said I would?" She replied cheekily, eyeing him.

The guy's smile widened and he settled next to her on the concrete ledge. He took out of his well-worn shirt a ruined cigarette pack and lit one up.

"Well." He began, shrugging. "The boss said that we're all going to finally leave this bloody planet in a few hours and yet, here you are. One could have thought you'd like to spend as much time as possible with your companions, uh? The name is Ben, by the way.

- Nice to meet ya, Ben. I'm Apple. And I don't really have any kind of link with those guys. They're nice folks, but I've joined them only a few days ago.

- So you do are planning on staying alone? That's kind of sad."

She frowned slightly. She was quite enjoying both his face and his voice; it'd be a shame if he managed to piss her off. "Not really. I'm used to it.

- We all do, eh?" He said and it seemed to her his smile was a little bitter. But well, yeah. They all did.

She sighed, resuming watching the landscape in front of her. Blackened buildings, destroyed towers, mined roads. Grey ashes. Grey sea, in the distance. Everything grey. Even the people were grey. It wasn't noticeable as such, but the ashes falling from the sky ended up sticking everywhere, taking away the colours from your hair, from your skin, from your clothes. This view looked the same as everywhere else. The most unsettling in Apple's opinion, though, were the large fields. Grey nothingness as far as the eye could see.

"Do you…Do you still remember?" Apple asked after a moment. It wasn't a question one would usually ask a stranger –a bit too personal- but life was short and growing shorter by the hour so, yeah.

"How it was before?" He replied, slowly breathing out the cigarette's smoke. Grey. She liked the smell, though. Reminded her of her first group. They used to smoke a lot. They hadn't yet realized how catastrophic the whole thing was and for a while, she had joined in their foolish hope that somehow, it'd be alright.

"I do. Well, bits of it. I was just a kid, like you. I remember our house, on Lincoln Avenue. And the ice cream truck. And how the sky always seemed to be bright." He added.

"I'm always amazed by people like you. You always remember the good stuff from before.

- You don't?

- Nah." She shrugged. "I was too young. Most of it are fake memories, you know? From what my old man told me, after."

He nodded. They were many youngsters like her, who had almost always only known this grey imitation of a world. Some of them had called themselves the 'ashes kids'. Born in ashes and to ashes they shall return. They'd never known anything else. It was sad, but at least now that would change.

He let his cigarette fall on the concrete and snubbed it with his foot.

"Ya know…you still haven't answered me, by the way." He pointed out, a boyish grin on his face at her apparent confusion. "I said 'Last night on Earth. Wanna come with me?'

- Oh. Right. Where to?" She eyed him defiantly. It'd be her luck if her last night was to be the one she got murdered –or worse.

"Secret place. I can promise you won't regret it."

He winked and extended out his hand to her. She contemplated it for a few seconds before getting down the wall she'd been sitting on, ignoring his hand with a crooked smile.

"Better make it good then, boy. You wouldn't want to ruin my last night on this forsaken place."

He smiled back and motioned toward the fences. He climbed over them swiftly and landed on the small building's roof on the other side. Once she'd followed, they headed toward the outskirts of the refugees camp. Most of the roof tops were old and patchy and unsteady, but it was still a lot faster than going through the crowd in the streets down there. Apple didn't like much other people. Especially tonight. There were old people crying, children running around, nervousness and distress filling each and every pair of eyes. Resignation was also in most of them.

Ben –he had a face to be called Jeremy or some shit like that, she thought- leaded her to the very last buildings of what used to be a gigantic factory. He helped her get to the last roof, where a staircase was still standing, despite all the rust that covered it. He stepped toward it but seemed to think better of it.

"Actually…it'd be a better surprise if you closed your eyes." She raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "Won't let you fall, I promise."

She shrugged. For what it was worth. She stepped closer to him and after a last frown at him, she closed her eyes. She felt his hands wrap around her shoulders, gently nudging her forward.

"Easy now, here come the stairs."

He passed before the young woman, taking her hands into his, and guided her to the bottom of the staircase. She finally left the metallic steps only to find a softer ground, unlike concrete or tar. She let him lead her farther, surprised to feel her legs go through what felt like tall grass.

"Hey. Is that grass? Are we in the water tank field?

- - Patience, grasshopper ." Was his evasive reply.

They kept walking for a few more minutes, Apple stumbling once or twice, until the moment she felt they'd reached a hill. Once there, he let go of her hands and said:

"Well, here you go."

Apple opened her eyes, only to see him facing her, a smug grin on his face. She puffed in annoyance and turned her head to the side. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight before her eyes.

"Are those…flowers?" She asked, incredulous. "Actual flowers?"

"Actual flowers." He smiled, visibly pleased with himself.

She took a step forward, before letting herself fall on her backside. She gently cupped the flower near her, almost blinded by its red color. It wasn't especially bright or anything –goodness knew nothing was anymore those days- but it was quite a sight. And green grass! Well, less gray than the rest, but who was she to be picky?

"Dude. You should have kept that for a girl you wanted to woo." She said, a bit shocked.

He laughed, shrugging.

"I guess I should have, yeah."

He sat down near her, his knee almost touching hers. It would have bothered her, the proximity, had they not been surrounded by a dozen of those out of place flowers. She hadn't seen any in at least ten years.

"But I'd rather spend the night with a kindred spirit, savoring those last instants, than lost in flesh and lust. Those are still going to exist afterwards. This place…not so much."

She nodded, getting the idea.

"Although, who says my first intention wasn't to woo you?" He said playfully, teasing her. She rolled her eyes, amused. "I'd like to see you try."

They spent some time in a comfortable silence, sometimes breaking it to point out the lights were getting closer in the sky or that the sea on this side of the continent seemed a shade darker or some other kind of idle chat.

"What d'you think it'll be like?" She asked after a while, eying the spaceships growing bigger and bigger.

"I truly have no idea. The boss said they were friendly enough." He shrugged, as if to say 'it's not as if we have much of a choice anyway, really'.

"Yeah." She muttered, plucking out some grass. "Do you think they'll leave it like that, though? The Earth, I mean.

- - I don't know.

- - They should do something.

- - Yeah.

- - I mean, humans can't just squat around in other species' planets. We'll need to get back here at some point.

- - I guess."

They fell silent again. One of the hovercrafts had left the main ships and was now floating over the largest field, down the road. Apple seemed to recall this was the place they'd chosen for the boarding. Five weeks to empty the Earth. Not much, but once again, it wasn't like many of them had managed to make it. They had probably arranged the same thing on other continents, she thought. Her mind was drifting away, toward other planets and little blue creatures when Ben spoke again.

"You know…I don't think either of us will see this place ever again."

She didn't reply, feeling vaguely nostalgic –which was a bit odd and stupid, seeing all she'd ever known were ashes and hardships.

"Maybe our grandkids.

- - More like our grand-grand-grandkids. 'T is gonna need a hell of a clean up to be kinda viable down here.

- - Yeah."

She leaned back, crossing her legs. He looked at her, pondering.

"Sorry if that sounds rude, but is Apple your real name?

- - Yeah, it is kind of rude.

- - I want to know before I risk never seeing you again.

- - Those spaceships aren't that vast. You won't be able to lose me in it.

- - They are.

- - But you still have to woo me.

- - Oh, right.

- - It's not my real first name, though.

- - Why did you change it?

- - I didn't. The old man did. Reminded him of better times.

- - Sweet.

- - I guess Ben's your real name?

- - Sorry to disappoint.

- - Don't be."

After a while, sirens started to echo in the camp, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the filed. They got up, Ben trying to brush some of the ashes away while Apple picked two flowers out of the grass sea. She handed him one.

"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" He smirked, accepting it.

"It's for remembering." She said.

"You or the Earth?

- - Maybe both."

They slowly made their way back to the staircase and the roofs, till the very first one he'd come to find her.

"Well then.

- - Yeah.

- - Hope you have a nice trip.

- - Maybe I'll see you onboard.

- - Maybe.

- - Can I have a farewell kiss?

- - A farewell one? No.

- - A see you soon one then?

- - Nope."

She smiled at his pouting face.

"Patience, grasshopper." She put the flower in her jacket's inner pocket. "I never said anything about a nice to see you again one."


End file.
